Electric connection with car-tracks



(No Model.) v v G. G. CAMPBELL.

ELECTRIC CONNECTION WITH OAR TRAGKS.

Patented Mar. 18, 1890.

' continuous ground-wire.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE GARDINER CAMPBELL, OF MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN.

EL ECTRIC CONNECTION WITH CAR-TRACKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 423,46 'aatee iivr h is, 1890.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE GARDINER CAMPBELL, of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of lVisconsim-h-ave invented new and useful Electric Connections with Car-Tracks; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon ,which form a part of this specification.

In that system of operating street-cars by means of an electric motor in which an overhead wire and trolley are used for conducting the electric current it is desirable to complete the electric circuit through the cartrack and a continuous wire laid in or upon the ground near and alongthe track, to which the several rails or plates of the track are connected electrically to form a complete .inetal circuit for the electric current.

when the track is laid down, forms a branch,

connecting this part of the track with the It is common to construct the curved rails or plates with which the track is constructed at .a corner, also the cross-track plates used where two tracks cross each other, and frogs or switchplates used. at the switches of very hard castiron or steel, and the drilling of these for the purpose of inserting a branch ground-wire is very slow and expensive work, and the connection thereby made is sometimes faulty by reason of a failure to make the contact of the inserted wire with the wall of the aperture drilled in the plate so thoroughly tight as to form a perfect electric connection, or if made thoroughly tight at first these connections are liable to become loose by reason of the constant movement or vibration of the track caused by the passage of the cars thereon or otherwise. 'I o obviate these difficulties, and to form a per-' feet and lasting electric connection between the railor plate and the branch connectingwire, is the object of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a portion of a curved rail or plate with a branch wire con- 'the branch wire with the rail-plate.

necting it to the continuous ground-wire.

Application filed November 16, 1389- Serial No. 330,519. (No model.)

Fig. 2 is a vertical trausverse section of the device shown in Fig. l on line 2 2 thereof. Fig. 3 is atransverse section of a rail like that shown in Figs 1 and 2,buthaving the branch wire connected to the rail in a different place. Fig. t is a rail-crossing plate with a branch electric wire connected thereto at each end. Fig. 5 shows a modified form of connecting Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the device shown in Fig. 5 on line 6 6 thereof.

A represents a continuousgrounchwire laid alongside the car-track, commonly of copper, and intended to form the ground-line of the electric circuit.

B is a branch ground-wire running from the groui'id-wire A to the rail or car- 'ack plate C. These car-track plates are shown in the drawings in two forms, the curved form shown in Figs. 1. and 5 and the crossing-plate shown in Fig. 4; but my invention is adapted equally well for the curved rails or plates, the cross rails or plates, the frogs and switchplates, and also the straight rails of which a track is formedf l In Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 4 the branch ground-wire B is shown as inserted in and surrounded immediately by the track or plate 0, and in Figs. 5 and 6 a sleeve or plug D is shown, which may be of copper, soft ordinary iron, or any metal that is readily out under a drill or chisel. The branch ground-wire is ordinarily constructed of copper.

My method of connecting the branch ground-wire with the rail or plate consists in inserting the copper wire into the matrix in the mold in which the rail or plate is to be cast and. pouring the molten liquid, of which the rail or plate is formed, into the matrix about the copper wire, so that the wire is secured directly and permanently in the rail or plate when it is cast. struction is to make so close and perfect a union of the rail or plate with the therein-inserted branchground-wire as to make a perfoot electric connection of the one to the other. This construction obviates the labor and expense of drilling a hole in the rail or plate and of inserting and fixing the ground-wire tightly in the aperture provided.

The result of such con-- It is sometimes desirable .to so connect the I ground-wire with the rail or plate that it may be disconnected temporarily; and to provide for this a soft-metal sleeve or plug D may be inserted in the matrix of the mold and the rail or plate cast onto and around theplug, which may be provided with the therein-inserted branch ground-wire B, or as the plug is formed of soft metal it can be drilled readily, and the wire can be inserted in the plug after the plate has been cast with the softmetal plug only, in it. i 1

Instead of a permanent soft-metal plug, a chill-core having a smooth surface may beinserted inthe matrix and the metal cast about it, which core may thereafter be knocked out of the plate orrail, leaving a'smooth hardened surface about the aperture, into which the in a projection E, cast integral with the crossing-plate.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of an iron or steel plate, frog, or rail of a car-track with a copper wire or its equivalent, one end of the wire being inserted in the plate, frog, or rail, the abutting surfaces' of the wire and the plate, frog, or rail being intermingled to theextent caused by casting the molten metal of theplate, frog, or rail about the wire in the casting of the plate, frog, or rail, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

2. The combination of a metal plate or rail adapted for a portion of a car-track, in combination with a wire and a sleeve or plug thereabout secured in the plate permanently, substantiallyas described.

In testimony whereof I affiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE GARDINER CAMPBELL. Witnesses:

O. T. BENEDICT, ANNA FAUST. 

